Life, family, and travel

Shall I have 4 Grandchildren?

Last August, my son and his wife (Mark and Jenn) went to Ghana, Africa, on a missions trip that included a day at the local orphanage.  Ghana is a democracy, making it relatively stable when compared to other African nations, but it is very poor.  When families have a new baby, they keep the child as long as it can be breast fed, but after that, when real food is required, most families cannot afford to feed the child and they send them to the orphanage.  There, they are fed and clothed, but essentially neglected, with no love in their lives, no effort to nurture, train, or educate them.  How can they be, when the number of people willing to work in the orphanages are minimal? At either 16 or 18 yrs of age (I forget which), the orphan is "released into the wild" with no skills, family, or money.  Most of them become prostitutes.

click the link to see the WHOLE story! via www.cindybettinger.com

Yellow Dog Studio

Recently, a friend of mine introduced me to a magical place in Sullivan IL.  I had no idea it was there!  In this area of Illinois, there were several shoe factories in several towns.  The Brown's shoe factories employed hundreds of people for many years, but have all closed down now.  Those old brick factory buildings have typically become eyesores, but in Sullivan IL the local artisans have an idea, and are turning an old, deserted factory into a center for art and imagination.  While the first floor is being used by the current owners for a small business space, the whole 2nd floor is being rented to artists, for an astonishingly low cost, who are then renovating the space they are renting into mini art galleries to showcase their work, to actually create art, and to sell art.  I was in a daze as I wandered about with my camera!

 

A visit full of rememberings

Kate Pearcy Warren Moses was otherwise known as Granny.  

She was everyone's grandmother, mother, aunt, and sister, or at least that was what it seemed like to me when I joined Chuck's family.  She was the firstborn of Oren and Nellie Pearcy, and we recently visited her brother Buck's granddaughter, in Waupaca WI.  Louise lives in Wisconsin with husband Al, who's crazy about remotely operated airplanes.  Chuck remembers how much fun he had, years ago, flying the remote airplanes.  

On the other hand, Louise distinctly remembers cousin Chuck, who's a few yrs older, taking her for a ride in his car and terrifying her with his speed and daring.  Chuck never realized that not everyone enjoys experiencing zero gravity in a car.

We dropped in on Al and Louise for a 2 hour visit, back in early Feb, full of rememberings before heading south and in the general direction of home. 

Blessings & Miracles

30 years ago, today, Chuck and I were married at the Bible Center Church in Charleston, IL. What blessings and miracles we've experienced since then!

(yes, that's Chuck being tossed in the pool.  We were a rowdy bunch back then!)  We met in the summer of 1978, but didn't really date for the first time until later that year, when I was attending EIU and was looking for a date one Saturday night.  Chuck was the only one on my short list who was taller than me, so I gave him a call, and in a very short time, we were exclusive, dating only one another.  We tied the knot a bit over 3 years later.

Blessings & Miracles.  The first miracle was Mark and I both turning to Christ.  Wow. No one expected that one!  Within only 6 months of marrying, I was turning to God (some say for HELP!).  Mark met the Lord only months after that.

The next miracle was Mark, himself.  Medical science has no explanation for his surviving childhood, as he had cystic fibrosis (and still does).  He was not expected to survive, yet he not only survived, he thrived!

The next miracle was that, in spite of Chuck's job, and constant absence from home, we kept going, and stayed together.

Blessings & miracles - God, in His wisdom and faithfulness, brought us through easy and hard times (more hard than easy, I think).  And as if that wasn't enough, He fine tuned and polished us, sanding here, chipping away there.  I can't list all the blessings and miracles - like the friends we've made, and kept, through the years, and the wonderful home we have in the woods of IL.  The greatest blessing to date, during our greatest trial to date, is that we are celebrating our 30th, together.  If you had asked either one of us, back in September, if we expected to be here, today, together, we would both have said "no".  Yet here we are!

Thank You Lord, for bringing us to this day.

Pine City, Waaaaay up there

After breakfast and some more visiting with Robert and Pauline, we hit the cold January road and set our sights on Pine City, MN, where Chuck's Aunt June (also on his father's side) lives.  June is what I think of as a typical Yankee, Minnesota or New England.  Wiry, active, hard-working.  She lengthens all her vowels and has that contagious (at least, I'd start talking like her pretty quickly if I stuck around) Canadian/Minnesota/Wisconsin accent.  She can eat twice what I can and be as slender as a reed. (grrr)

We stayed most the day, once we got there and settled into a motel, starting the day with breakfast out and then going for a little drive to see the "old farm" where Chuck's parents once lived and tried to make a go of farming. It was originally the home of grandparents Charles and Myrtle Bettinger: 

Isn't that picture so cool?  While we were visiting June, I took photos of a bunch of old pictures she had on the shelves, that being one of them.  That old car!!! Charles & Myrtle weren't even married yet in this VERY early 20th century photo.

Anyway, back to the visit with June.  We returned from our pleasant drive to June's house where we sat around, gabbed, looked at old photos and had a generally great time.

Before we left, we HAD to have lunch at the cafe that's been on Main St for generations, which still holds memories for many of the Bettingers.

Visiting Family

During one of our weeks "with nothing to do" Chuck and I decided to hit the road and visit some family we haven't seen in ages.  We started in Iowa, visiting Chuck's Uncle Robert on his Dad's side of the family, and his wife Pauline.  They've slowed down, but are still kickin' around, and the 4 of us went out to supper together, and then had breakfast together in the morning, courtesy of Pauline.

While in Vinton, we saw this carved corn, and just HAD to take a picture, tourists that we are!